An EPA spokesman told the New York Times the agency had decided to abide by the White House’s edict (PDF) that the drop dead date for publishing new rules in the Federal Register was Nov. 1.

“We didn’t want to be faced with putting a midnight regulation in place,” the spokesman, Jonathan Shradar, told the Times. “It was better to leave those incomplete rather than force something through.”

It remains to be seen what the EPA will do about the other rules the agency has been pushing through—rules that, if they remain in place, will also be published well after the deadline.

We’d like to know why EPA chose to abandon these two rules and not the others still pending. We’re placing a call to the agency to find out.

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